Refrigerated and frozen food product travels from processing plants to retailers, where the food product remains on display case shelves for extended periods of time. The display case shelves are typically part of a refrigeration system for storing and displaying the refrigerated and frozen food product and must be constantly cooled to ensure maximum product life. Retailers attempt to maximize the shelf-life and quality of the stored food product while concurrently maximizing the efficiency of the refrigeration system. In so doing, retailers receive a profit through sales of quality products while spending a minimum on energy costs associated with product display (i.e., refrigeration, etc.).
Any breakdown in the refrigeration system or variation in performance can cause food quality issues and negatively impact the profit of the retailer. Therefore, retailers typically monitor refrigeration system equipment to ensure that the equipment operates at expected levels. When the refrigeration equipment is operating at a reduced capacity, or is not operating at all, retailers are accustomed to immediately calling a repair technician to promptly restore the refrigeration system to normal operation.
For example, when a retailer notices a refrigeration system fault such as a condenser fan failure, the retailer typically contacts a repair person as soon as possible to repair the fan and restore the refrigeration system to normal operation. The retailer usually pays a higher maintenance premium for an emergency service call due to the required response time and urgency of the situation (i.e., overtime pay, weekend maintenance, etc.). The added expense associated with emergency service is typically justified as emergency maintenance costs do not typically outweigh the expense associated with loss of the refrigerated and/or frozen food product, loss of product sales, and/or consumption of excess energy.
In addition to the premium associated with emergency service, retailers often incur higher repair bills due to the frequency in which service is performed. The fear of spoilage prompts retailers to schedule maintenance at the first inclining of a fault condition. The reactive nature of such a system results in frequent service calls and, thus, higher overall maintenance costs as repair technicians typically require a flat fee for simply responding to the call (i.e., driving to the particular location). Therefore, because retailers are reactive to refrigeration system faults and do not typically have a predictive or condition-based maintenance schedule in place, most retailers incur higher-than-necessary maintenance costs.